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Wells Fargo is getting ready to refund tens of millions of dollars to customers.
The Wall Street Journal said the refunds are for charges tacked onto bills for all sorts of services customers didn't need or may not have fully understood-- including things like legal services and pet insurance.
The new refunds are on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars the bank is paying out for deceiving consumers.
Wells Fargo refunding tens of millions of dollars to customers for hidden charges
U.S. & WORLD
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Run! Piggy run!
A robbery suspect with a gun walks into a tobacco shop he meets his nemesis a dog, the fight is on!
Chinese Shopping Mall Turns into a flowing river due to heavy rainfall
A seagull turns bright orange after falling into a vat of warm curry
A lawnmower accident causes life-threatening injuries to tiny tree frog
A conniving monkey manages to steal 10,000 rupees out of a cash register after waiting outside fo store front for do...
Wildlife experts place a GoPro camera on the back of a cheetah running a high speed
Bees chase a car for two days to rescue their queen who was trapped in the car
A camel was tied up outside all day during a heatwave in India when the owner came back the camel bit his head off
A drunk man is recorded jumping into a lion enclosure seen trying to shake hand with the deadly mammal
The Floridian man sends 5 of his dogs to attack smaller dog because the owner is a 'Terrorist prick'
Tourists in Yellowstone put a calf in their car because they thought it was cold, it was later rejected from its her...
A minor girl is stabbed and killed by her father and uncle, the attacker are attacked by a cow
Markus Meechan arrested after teaching girlfriend's pug a Nazi salute as a prank is now arrested for being racist
Kronenbourg 1664 will open a pop-up bar in London serving their own beer served by Dogs
Tunisian Couple win a cow after coming first in a mobile gaming competition for the app named "Bagra"
A video Of A Double Headed Lizard eating its prey has surfaced online, it is amazing
A video has surfaced online of a man attacking a popular pregnant seal
Owner Of Eugene Pet store used a Galago primate as payment for a prostitute after it was stolen from Zany Zoo Pet St...
A food truck in Seatle specializes in preparing food for man's best friend.

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Some 30,000 people visit ‘Van Cat Villa’
Some 30,000 people have visited a center in the eastern province of Van, where rare Van cats have been put under protection, since June 1.
Van cats are domestic cats found in the Lake Van region that are famous for having heterochromia (having one eye of blue, the other of amber color).
“Tourists visiting the province come to our center, too. Especially kids love it here,” said Mehmet Bayır, the head of the center named “Van Cats Villa.”
“The only problem is they cannot touch the cats due to pandemic restrictions,” he noted.
“I hope the pandemic will be over and our visitors can pet the cats as much as they wish,” he added.
Visitors are also fond of the center. “These cats are much more beautiful than their photos online.”


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Today, many people choose to stream movies in their living room over making a trip to the theater— just like many people reach for their phones to order food delivery over dining out. “This tendency for people to want to remain in their own environment while eating their food is not going away,” says Karen Malody, FCSI, owner of Culinary Options.
The stats are staggering. Twenty-one percent of consumers are ordering more delivery now than they were two years ago, according to Technomic’s 2018 Takeout & Off-Premise Consumer Trend Report. And people are relying on third-party delivery services more than ever: For the nation’s Top 5 third-party delivery companies— Door-Dash, GrubHub, UberEats, Postmates and Caviar, in that order—monthly sales reached $1.28 billion in May 2019, a year-over-year change of 50.4%.
Food delivery is growing beyond restaurants, too. For example, B&I clients are increasingly looking at providing the convenience of delivery to employees on premise, says Russ Benson, founder and CEO of DayOne Hospitality Consulting, which works with noncommercial operators in corporate dining, colleges and universities, and healthcare. “If you allow an external third party to come in, say DoorDash or whatever, now there is that gray area of how long did the food sit in the car … can they get through security and all of those other tripwires,” he says. “That makes you say, hey, our on-site operator who is already badged, approved and in the space, could they provide delivery?”
Whether you sign on with a third-party delivery provider or offer some extent of delivery service yourself, it’s important to make sure your operation is prepared for the switch. “People say, ‘Well sure, we’ll sign up with GrubHub and they’ll just come in and get the food,’” Malody says. “Then it hits you: Oh my gosh. I didn’t think through any of the logistics of how this is going to work.”
Read on for tips from foodservice consultants on how to get set up for success.


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Debit card swipe fees have been a major bone of contention between big banks and U.S. merchants since caps on the fees were instituted during the financial crisis. According to CNN Money, the average pre-recession swipe fee was forty cents, but during the recession the Federal Reserve capped fees at twenty-one cents in an effort to keep business operating as optimally as possible.
However, the twenty-one cent cap was still too high for the National Retail Federation, which filed a suit in federal court against the Federal Reserve in November of 2011. In a ruling that has been highly anticipated by both retailers and consumers, the court struck down the Fed’s maximum fee and suggested that it lower the swipe fee cap to twelve cents. It is unlikely that the central bank will contest the ruling, but the twelve-cent cap is still being debated.
[Free Resource: Check your free credit report and score]
What remains somewhat murky, though, is whether or not the reduction in the swipe fee cap will result in lower costs for consumers. When swipe fees were initially reduced during the recession, the average costs of most goods remained stable or increased.
The major loser in this ruling, though, is undoubtedly the big banks, which can no longer charge merchants high fees for customers’ debit card purchases. When the swipe fee caps were introduced in 2011, many corporate financial institutions saw declines in revenue, a phenomena that many expect to be replicated when the swipe fee caps are reduced. It remains unclear whether or not the banking industry will take legal action against the swipe fees.


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By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT
Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez has kept his cool as he sent a very diplomatic letter to his Thailand counterpart on hopes the fellow ASEAN will finally honor its obligation to comply with the ruling of the WTO to remove its discriminatory taxes on Philippine cigarettes.
“We’ve written a very diplomatic letter to my Thai counterpart,” Lopez told reporters when asked on the status of the government’s planned trade retaliatory action versus Thailand. He said the letter was sent first week of December. The DTI plans to impose punitive tariff against cars imported from Thailand should it continued to comply.
On Thai’s court’s recent imposition of $40 million fines on Philip Morris Thailand for alleged underdeclaration of its cigarette imports from Philip Morris Philippines, Lopez said the government can use that also as another evidence for Thailand’s continued defiance versus the WTO ruling.
Lopez, however, said the DTI has yet to formally notify WTO of its intention to exercise its right to implement retaliatory measure against Thailand for non-compliance.
Earlier, Lopez said the Philippines would like to wait until the first quarter of 2020 for Thailand to finally remove the discriminatory tax treatment on its tobacco exports in a last ditch effort before the country exercises its trade retaliatory right against the fellow ASEAN country.
“We’ll be done ‘til next year or by January next year we should have something already,” he said noting that will be the last ditch effort to make Thailand comply.
The Philippine Mission to WTO in Geneva has been notified already of the country’s plan to impose safeguard measure against Thailand.
The government is seriously studying a possible trade remedy, most possibly a safeguard duty, on Thailand’s car exports to the Philippines in retaliation to its fellow ASEAN country’s continued refusal to comply with the WTO ruling on cigarette taxes.
Trade and Industry Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo said the process for retaliatory action can be implemented quickly.
While Lopez supports the review towards the exercise of a retaliatory trade remedy, he stressed, “We have to study well,” noting there will still be negotiation and hopefully Thailand would compensate for the injury caused on cigarette exports.
Rodolfo further said that the Philippine government has followed all the sequencing agreement with Thailand signed in 2012 over the cigarette dispute settlement or DS 371 before the WTO. The Philippines won in all of its cases against Thailand with favorable WTO ruling, but Thailand remained uncompliant.
Under the WTO rules, the Philippines has the right to retaliate. Generally, the complainant may seek suspension of concession or obligation in the same sector in which the violation or impairment was found. However, if the complainant considers it impracticable or ineffective to remain within the same sector, the sanctions can be in a different sector or the so-called sector retaliation.
Rodolfo explained that since the Philippines does not import much tobacco from Thailand, a retaliation on that same product would not do justice to the economic injury caused by Thailand’s illegal imposition of sanctions on the Philippine export.
“That is why we are looking at automobiles because that is our biggest import from Thailand,” he said.
Thailand is Philippines’ number one source of automobile imports. From 2014 to 2018, the Philippines imported 428,000 units from Thailand. These are products covered under HS Codes 8703 and 8704 or the tariff lines for automobiles used for the transport of persons and goods. The country’s third biggest import from Thailand is rice.
“We are seriously calculating retaliatory rights on automotive product exports from Thailand,” said Rodolfo. Under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, automotive products produced within the region and traded among the 10 ASEAN member countries have zero duty.


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People celebrate the Gitlab IPO on the Nasdaq on October 14, 2021.
GitLab shares rose 22% on its first day of trading on Thursday after the developer collaboration software provider sold shares well above its expected range on its IPO.
Trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “GTLB,” GitLab priced its stock at $ 77 on Wednesday night, valuing the company at about $ 11 billion. GitLab had said that it would likely sell shares for between $ 66 and $ 69 each. The stock opened at $ 94.25.
Since its founding nearly a decade ago, GitLab has been pursuing GitHub in the source repository market, which also includes Atlassian’s Bitbucket. Microsoft acquired GitHub in 2018 for $ 7.5 billion, and since then GitLab has grown rapidly as the only major independent player in the market.
Revenues in the second quarter increased 69% from the prior year to $ 58.1 million. However, because GitLab spends the equivalent of three-quarters of its revenue on sales and marketing, primarily to build its developer user base, the company posted a net loss of $ 40.2 million in the latest quarter.
GitLab raised close to $ 650 million on the offering, and investors bought more than $ 150 million in additional shares of an entity affiliated with GitLab CEO Sid Sijbrandij.
GitLab offers a free version of what the company calls its DevOps platform, a term that refers to the combination of developers and IT operations. The software allows users to work on the code, package it, publish it, and monitor it. Customers can run GitLab on any public cloud, their own data center, or as a GitLab-hosted service.
The company makes money with its Premium products. For $ 19 / month per user, GitLab includes faster code reviews and enterprise tools, and for $ 99 / month, users get features like security and compliance. Some 383 customers spend at least $ 100,000 a year, GitLab said in its user information.
“Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to convert users of our free product offering into paying customers by selling additional products and selling additional subscription services,” said GitLab.
GitLab founders Dmitriy Zaporozhets and Sid Sijbrandij
GitLab said its net revenue retention rate, a key metric for subscription software companies because it shows customer success, rose to 152% in the July period. That would place it among the top publicly traded software companies.
It is also the main reason, along with the growth of GitLab, why the company has such a high revenue multiple. With a market capitalization of $ 11 billion, GitLab would trade for roughly 47 times annual revenue, below just six of the 58 companies on the Bessemer Cloud Index, and just above Atlassian.
GitLab is widely known as a pioneer in remote work. While companies were forced to adapt to distributed work during the pandemic, GitLab started out that way and didn’t have to modify much for its 1,350 employees operating in more than 65 countries. In the header of your prospectus, Gitlab says “address not applicable.”
GitLab, which was founded in 2012 and incorporated two years later, was last valued at $ 6 billion in secondary financing, confirmed in early 2021, which allowed existing shareholders to sell up to 20% of their acquired capital. . That was up from a $ 2.7 billion valuation in a funding round in late 2019.
In its “equipment manual” on its website, GitLab had openly declared its plan to go public in November 2020. After the pandemic struck early last year, which shook the overall economy, the company dismissed the timing of its debut, stating that a public listing was still on the waybill.
GitLab co-founder Sijbrandij is the company’s largest shareholder, owning 19% before the offering, according to the prospectus. Khosla Ventures owns 14%, followed by ICONIQ at about 12%, August Capital at 11%, and GV (formerly Google Ventures) at just under 7%.
LOOK: The rise of open source software


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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – JDA Software, Inc. is opening up its end-to-end supply chain portfolio as a development platform.
JDA’s AI-powered Supply Chain Management (SCM) Platform allow customers as well as application development and technology partners to create cutting-edge applications on top of JDA’s solutions for the first time.
“Less than a year ago, I told our customers at our annual conference that we would become a supply chain platform company and demonstrate these capabilities at our first-ever developers conference in 2019,” said Girish Rishi, chief executive officer, JDA.
With JDA’s SCM Platform, customers can tap into the award-winning JDA Luminate Control Tower as the network visibility backbone. Luminate Control Tower allows companies to see, interpret and act on real-time information from the entire digital ecosystem, sensing unexpected events across the extended supply chain and orchestrating corrective action with ML-based prescriptive guidance.
To introduce this new supply chain platform approach, JDA is hosting its first developers conference – DEVCON 2019 – on May 6, 2019, one day ahead of its annual customer conference, JDA ICON, held May 7-10, in Dallas, Tex.
DEVCON will host developers for a one-day, immersive software development event consisting of hands-on workshops, speakers, breakout sessions and networking events. DEVCON speakers include Ryan Lowdermilk, product technical specialist at Microsoft and Manan Sanghvi is a principal solutions engineer at MuleSoft.


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Vodafone offers 60GB ‘welcome gift’ for new postpaid customers
Vodafone has announced a welcome offer under its RED postpaid subscription. Here’s what it’s all about.
- New postpaid customers on Vodafone network will get 60GB free data.
- Vodafone has revamped its RED postpaid plans in June.
- It is also offering Netflix subscription for prepaid and postpaid customers
Vodafone India is now offering 60 GB free 3G and 4G data to its new postpaid customers.
New postpaid customers under RED will now get 60GB data as a ‘gift’ for subscribing to the network. The company said it will offer 10GB data per month for the first six billing cycles taking the total up to 60GB on all network types namely 2G, 3G and 4G.
"Any customer buying a new Vodafone RED plan can opt for this (welcome) offer through MyVodafone App," the company said.
In addition to this Vodafone RED customers can also avail of the new revamped plans which range from Rs 499 to Rs 2999.
All these plans will have 60GB added to the total data offered.
Each listed plan below offers 100 local and national SMSes per billing cycle and unlimited voice calls which include both roaming incoming and outgoing calls, as per a report by TelecomTalk.
Rs 499: This entry-level RED plan offers 5GB data per month and will also offer unlimited local and STD calls. However under this plan users will be charged for outgoing calls on roaming.
Rs 699: Under this plan postpaid customers will get 8GB data.
Rs 999: This plan offers 15GB data.
Rs 1299: Upon subscription of this plan, customers will get 20GB standard data.
Rs 1699: This plan offers 30GB data.
Rs 1999: Under this plan customers will get 40GB data.
Rs 2999: Customers will get up to 60GB data under this plan.
Other Exclusive Benefits
The company is also offering ‘Red Shield’ and Netflix subscriptions which is under ‘carrier billing,’ the company said.
Red Shield offers protection of smartphones from theft physical or liquid damage, and virus at Rs 60 per month.
The telecom operator is also offering a Netflix subscription for its prepaid and postpaid subscribers.
Rs 500: For this amount customers can avail of an exclusive Netflix subscription which will be valid for one month.
Rs 650: Two device sharing of the Netflix subscription is available to customers per month.
Rs 800: Four people can share the Netflix subscription. This plan also offers ultra HD quality videos.
RED 1299 and 1600: These plans offer two months subscription worth Rs 1000.
RED 1999: Three months subscription worth Rs 1500.
RED 2999: This plan offers 12 months Netflix subscription worth Rs 6000.
Earlier in July, Vodafone launched its Rs 244 plan for prepaid customers giving 70GB data for 70 days. The company is also offering a ‘Campus Survival Kit’ for 1GB per day for 84 days and a Rs 349 plan offering 1GB data per day for 28 days.
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Saubermacher opens logistics centre in Hoče
The right place at the right time. The high-tech logistics centre is state of the art, enabling the provision of integrated, bespoke services. A needs-based warehouse management system has been developed specially to meet Henkel’s requirements. Its production plant in Marburg is the second largest such plant in the world for cosmetic products. Sustainability is a very important feature of the plant, which uses innovative lifting technology and electric stacker trucks to move between 600 and 800 pallets per day in the most environmentally responsible, just-in-time manner possible. The strategically beneficial location creates additional benefits. ‘Henkel Maribor has been an integral part of the industrial landscape in Maribor and the surrounding area for decades. Over the years, the company has grown with the town, and as we have expanded to markets in Europe and beyond, the need has arisen for a modern logistics centre with the capability to properly support our high-capacity production and as an important cornerstone for the company’s further investment in development, automation, digitisation, efficient and sustainable solutions. Thanks to the right strategic vision, which we share with our partner Saubermacher Outsourcing, we now have a state-of-the-art logistics centre, which is undoubtedly the precursor to a new, modern era of logistics services in our region, and will open the door to a smart, technologically advanced future of production,’ explains Christof Vollstedt, Production Manager at Henkel Europe and Gregor Majcen, Managing Director at Henkel Maribor.
30 newly recruited employees work in two-shift patterns to safeguard supplies to the production process at the Henkel plant. The investment volume for the coming six years is forecast to be around five million Euros. ‘I am very proud of what we have achieved and it makes me very happy that we are able to boost our commitment in Slovenia, which began with waste disposal in 1989 in Lenart and Murska Sobota, and now employs 450 people, and to add value in the region. I’d like to thank our partners, Henkel and Go Asset as well as the Hoče local authority, for the positive and trustful collaboration,’ explains Hans Roth, Founder of Saubermacher. Cooperation between the two established companies, Henkel and Saubermacher Outsourcing, was agreed six years ago.
Individual full-service logistics. The storage area used by Henkel covers 10,000 square metres, which is enough for around 20,000 pallets. The new logistics centre came about in cooperation with Austrian investor GO ASSET Development, which develops sustainable logistics projects in Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia. ‘Completion of this projects is an important boost to the service portfolio of Saubermacher Outsourcing in Slovenia, which already includes cleaning, internal operational logistics and waste disposal,’ explains Matej Blažič, Managing Director at Saubermacher Outsourcing, of the successful start. Saubermacher Outsourcing’s goal is to further tap the Slovenian market, relying on bespoke services, sustainability and innovative digital solutions for efficiency and transparency at the press of a button. In addition, Saubermacher is also a multifaceted local service provider, with its core business areas of waste disposal for households and local authorities with PPP models, as well as for commerce and industry, plus for hazardous waste disposal with approved storage facilities.
Social responsibility. Saubermacher Outsourcing is aware of its social responsibility and always strives to be a good neighbour. A collection was held at the ceremonial opening, which took place last Friday afternoon in the presence of representatives from Austria and Slovenia. Donations will go to organisations including Hoče-Slivnica volunteer fire service and local clubs.
other interesting links
Henkel relies on services of Saubermacher Outsourcing
Saubermacher Outsourcing d.o.o. takes over the warehouse management of Henkel plant in Maribor. As a result, 30 new jobs will be created in the region.
Saubermacher Outsourcing celebrates its twentieth anniversary
The multi-certified master enterprise was founded as a 100% subsidiary of Saubermacher on 12 March 2001. We´re celebrating.


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Lenovo has been showing keen interest in the Indian smartphone market and now is gearing up to launch the Lenovo K6 Power in the country.
Lenovo has sent out press invites for its upcoming launch event in India scheduled for November 29 where the company will unveil the Lenovo K6 Power in the country. The affordable smartphone offering, which was launched a few months back, packs in a massive 4000 mAh battery. The handset also flaunts a unibody mental design and a fingerprint scanner on the back.
The Lenovo K6 Power has a 5 inch full HD display and is powered by the octa core Snapdragon 430 processor along with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage. The device also has a 13 MP rear facing camera and a front facing 8 MP camera. The company may launch the handset in 2 GB and 3 GB variants. We will know about the pricing at the time of the announcement.


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(RTTNews) - Business activity in the New York manufacturing sector saw substantially slower growth in the month of December, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday.
On December 13, 2018, the Stanford Graduate School of Business hosted a conference on “Responsible Supply Chains: Building Positive Impact in a Changing World.” The event brought together practitioners
(RTTNews) - The European markets ended the first day of the new trading week solidly in negative territory. Shares of retailers were under heavy pressure Monday after a profit warning from British online
While this concept seems simple enough, innovation is a huge driving factor to economic growth, welfare, and resources Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur
It’s a common misconception that leadership skills and managerial excellence can’t be taught. Even if you’re lucky enough to be born with a natural propensity for leadership and the ability to inspire
Once a leader in employment generation, the Indian IT industry is now at the bottom. The production and manufacturing sector emerged as the most active sector in terms of online hiring in 2018, registering
PARIS (Reuters) - French business activity plunged unexpectedly into contraction this month, retreating at the fastest pace in over four years in the face of violent anti-government protests, a monthly


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News Wrap: U.S. and China reach partial trade deal
Clip: 10/11/2019 | 8m 56s
In our news wrap Friday, the U.S. and China reached a partial trade deal after 15 months of disagreement. President Trump agreed to suspend a tariff hike scheduled to go into effect Tuesday, and China pledged to buy up to $50 billion in U.S. agricultural products. Also, more than 100,000 people are under evacuation orders as a wildfire rages in Southern California. At least two people have died.
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Major corporate funding for the PBS NewsHour is provided by BNSF, Consumer Cellular, Leidos, Babbel, and Raymond James. Funding for the PBS NewsHour Weekend is provided by Mutual of America. For a complete list of funders for the PBS NewsHour and PBS NewsHour weekend, click here.


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U.S. stock index futures gained on Wednesday after U.S. consumer prices in October rose in line with expectations and added little pressure on the Federal Reserve for further interest rate hikes.
At 8:36 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 93 points, or 0.37 percent. S&P 500 e-minis were up 11 points, or 0.4 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 30 points, or 0.44 percent. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)


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The Indian market will get the all-new BS6 emission compliance from April 2020. Before that, manufacturers have already started rolling out their BS6 products in the markets. Maruti Suzuki, the leading car manufacturer in the Indian market has already launched as many as seven BS6 compliant vehicles in the market. Hyundai, the second-best selling manufacturer in the Indian market recently launched the all-new Grand i10, which is also the brand’s first BS6 compliant vehicle in the Indian market. The South Korean manufacturer in an interview said that they will start launching the new BS6 compliant vehicles from early 2020.
Currently, Hyundai offer products like the Venue, Santro, Elantra, Elite i20, Verna, Creta and Tucson in the Indian market apart from the newly launched Grand i10. While the Hyundai Venue was recently launched in the Indian market, Hyundai is working to launch new version of the other vehicles too. Next month, the new Elantra facelift will be launched in the Indian market.
It should be noted that Hyundai has said that the brand will only launch new BS6 compliant vehicle starting next year. According the Hindu Business Line, Hyundai will only launch the new emission compliant vehicles from early 2020. Hyundai is planning to launch both petrol and diesel vehicles that will be compliant with the new norms. It should be noted that Maruti Suzuki has announced that they will not offer any diesel powered vehicles after the new emission norms come into place next year. Hyundai, on the other hand, will keep on selling the BS4 compliant vehicles in the market alongside the new BS6 vehicles till they are legally allowed to sell in the Indian market.
While the price of the BS6 compliant petrol vehicles are not affected much when compared to the BS4 vehicles, the price of the BS6 compliant diesel vehicles will see a sharp rise. This will affect the entry-level diesel-powered vehicles quite a lot. Currently, apart from the Hyundai Santro all the other vehicles including the all-new Venue, Grand i10 NIOS, Elite i20, Verna, Creta and Tucson are available with the diesel engine options. Since the price of the BS6 diesel vehicles will rise by quite a lot, Hyundai will offer the BS4 vehicles in the market till they are allowed. This will ensure that they customers get the vehicles at an economical price.
In the same interview, SS Kim, MD and CEO, Hyundai Motor India also mentioned that according to the global trends, the sales of the vehicles rise whenever there is such a change. This is because everyone looks for vehicles at an affordable price.
Hyundai’s Venue recently became the best-selling Utility Vehicle in the Indian market. In the future, the brand is planning to enter the new MPV segment too. Hyundai is also working on the new Creta and Elite i20, which will be launched in the Indian market next year.


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(Tory Newmyer – Washington Post)
President Trump made a Trump Steaks pitch for international investment in the United States, telling the global assemblage of business elites and foreign leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday morning that there’s never been a better time to get in on a sure thing.
In doing so, Trump sanded the edges off the “America First” credo that other heads of state obliquely criticized in their own addresses. He argued that an economically resurgent America lifts the world, and he invited the heads of foreign-based corporate giants in the audience to participate. “There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest and to grow in the United States,” he said.
The president also underlined his administration’s intent to drive a harder line enforcing trade rules — a pledge given weight by his decision earlier this week to slap tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines. “We support free trade but it needs to be fair, and it needs to be reciprocal because in the end unfair trade undermines us all,” Trump said. “The United States will no longer turn a blind eye to unfair economic practices including massive intellectual property theft, industrial subsidies, and pervasive state-led economic planning.” Click here to read more.
- U.S. Annual Growth Disappoints White House (Deutsche Welle)
- Analysis of the President’s World Economic Forum Speech (New York Times)
- China Piles Up Free Trade Deals as Trump Abandons Them (Bloomberg)
- Trump Administration Backs Bills to Toughen Foreign Investment Rules (Hellenic Shipping)


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Bengaluru: Betting on the 10-minute instant delivery of grocery, e-commerce company Grofers’ Founder and Chief Executive Officer Albinder Dhindsa announced rebranding of the platform as Blinkit on Monday.
Charting the course of the company’s journey, Dhindsa in a blogpost wrote, “Once upon a time, a few months ago, we started on a journey to build the future of commerce with 10 minute delivery of most of the stuff our customers need in their daily lives. Today, we already process over a million orders a week, across 12 cities in India. And this is just a start.”
ALSO READ: Supriya Lifescience IPO Opens On December 16 At Price Band Of Rs 265-274 Per Share
Sharing the development Dhindsa tweeted, “The 1 retweet and 1 like and we’ll change the name of Grofers in the blink of an eye. Eyes.”
Here’s How The Company Aims To Tap The Market
The rebranding comes months after the company rolled out the 10-minute delivery in August this year, and initially launched the service across the top 12 Indian cities.
“We learnt a lot as Grofers, and all our learnings, our team, and our infrastructure is being repurposed to pivot to something with staggering product-market fit – quick commerce. Today, we are surging ahead as a new company, and we have a new mission statement – “instant commerce indistinguishable from magic”. And we will no longer be doing this as Grofers – we will be doing it as Blinkit,” wrote Dhindsa in the blog.
Dhindsa told the publication Moneycontrol that the company was doing 1.25 lakh orders on a daily basis. Grofers had recently acquired the unicorn status or $1 billion in valuation after it raised more than $120 million from food aggregator Zomato and existing investor Tiger Global Management earlier this year.
In a move to push its quick commerce offering across Indian cities, the company has partnered with local store owners and following a ‘dark store strategy’ dedicated towards online e-commerce deliveries.
The competion in the quick e-commerce delivery space has heated up. Blinkit faces stiff competition from foodtech giant Swiggy, which is focussing on 15-minute delivery through its Instamart offering, and quick grocery delivery start-up, Zepto, which also offers 10 minutes delivery. Other companies in the space include BigBasket, Dunzo, and others.
Swiggy announced $700-million investment in the express grocery delivery service Instamart in its quest to double down on non-food delivery categories. According to Moneycontrol report, the company was registering more than one million orders per week and aims to roll out 15-minute deliveries to top cities by January next year.
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On July 20, 1992, a Drug Topics cover story posed the question, “Is Mail Order bombing?”
That story outlined the controversy mail-order pharmacy had created, including reports of medication mix-ups endangering or killing patients, and alleged unfair practices by insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers.
A separate story in that same issue was titled, “Rite Aid takes on mail order in Maine.” It reported that Rite Aid had acquired 27 Wellby Super Drug Stores in Maine and immediately pulled those employees out of an insurance plan that forced them to fill prescriptions through the mail.
Not the smoothest of starts
Both stories suggested mail-order pharmacy had not lived up to its billing. “It was a fad that hasn’t worked. Many of those who bought into mail order have found their costs continuing to rise,” Robert Johnson, then CEO of PCS Inc., told Drug Topics.
Many pharmacists clearly hoped that mail order—and the threat it posed to brick-and-mortar pharmacies—would dissipate. Others called that wishful thinking. “It’s good PR for competitors to say we’re not growing,” Dell Konner of the American Managed Care Pharmacy Association said. “If you repeat something often enough, people start to believe it.”
According to the story, mail-order pharmacy had jumped from $100 million in sales in 1981 to $3 billion in 1991.
A battle lost?
Mail order has continued to grow, as insurance companies force more and more customers to either use mail-order or pay larger co-pays for maintenance medications. Some states have considered legislation that would give patients the choice to opt-out of mail-order. Those efforts, however, have not slowed the growth of the industry.
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, in 2014 45.6% of male patients and 54.4% of female patients filled at least one prescription via mail order. Of those, nearly 79% of the mail orders were from patients with private insurance.
Kaiser Permanente, for example, in 2015 filled 20.6 million prescriptions through mail order. From 2009 through 2014, Kaiser earned J.D. Power’s highest ranking of all mail-order services.
“We know that receiving prescriptions through the mail not only increases our members’ satisfaction, but also improves medication adherence, which promotes their total health,” said Joseph Douglas, a Kaiser Permanente VP.


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Elon Musk said his acquisition of Twitter for about $44 billion is temporarily on hold pending details on the amount of fake accounts on the social media platform.
“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk said in a tweet on
‘Just because I tweet something, doesn’t mean people believe it or act accordingly,’ Musk says in defence
Elon Musk testifies about 2018 Tesla takeover tweet Tech Desk : dhakamirror.com Elon Musk, Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) chief executive, testified on Friday that one of his tweets did not affect the stock price of his electric car company, according to reports. “Just because I tweet something, doesn’t mean people believe it or act accordingly,” Musk … Read more


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Watch Victoria Beckham Completely Slay the Mannequin Challenge
Victoria Beckham is the latest star to take part in the "Mannequin Challenge" social media craze -- and she nailed it in typical VB fashion.
WATCH: Blac Chyna Does the 'Mannequin Challenge' Moments Before Giving Birth to Baby Dream -- See the Epic Delivery Room Video!
Accompanied by Rae Sremmurd's "Black Beatles" no less, the fashion designer posted the statuesque video on Friday, which took place while shooting the campaign for her new spring collection for Target.
"So much fun shooting the #VBxTarget campaign in Miami this week #mannequinchallenge x VB @target @targetstyle," the fashionista captioned the clip that featured several models and crew members, along with Beckham herself.
The collection is set to arrive in April of next year and features more than 200 pieces for women and children, including easy-to-wear dresses, rompers and playful tops and bottoms.
RELATED: Victoria Beckham and Target Team Up for New Spring Collection
"I loved the idea of opening the brand up to a wider audience and being able to share my vision with a broader customer base," the 42-year-old businesswoman said in a statement. "I have always designed clothes that I want to wear, and that's exactly what I have done here, but this time there are also clothes that my daughter would love to wear, too!"
Beckham's still-life clip follows in the footsteps of fellow "Mannequin Challenge" participants Michelle Obama, Adele, Paul McCartney, Britney Spears and more.


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Fairview Microwave has announced the launch of its newest product line: quad-ridge, dual polarized, broadband gain horns. These gain horns range from 0.8 GHz to 95 GHz waveguide and are available in gain varieties of 6, 10, 12, 15 and 20 dBi.
Designed to perform in broadband test and measurement applications, these gain horns are instrumental in characterizing antennas and wireless systems.
The addition of these units marks a significant expansion in Fairview’s product offerings within this category, bringing forth increased options and solutions for customers.
Expertly crafted from high-grade aluminum, the products are complemented by corrosion-resistant powder coating, ensuring lasting durability and performance. Moreover, these units come with popular connector options, further enhancing adaptability and user convenience.
“These quad-ridge, dual polarized, broadband gain horns are a testament to our commitment to providing high-quality products,” said Product Line Manager Kevin Hietpas. “We understand the unique needs of our customers in broadband test and measurement, and these gain horns meet those needs while expanding our existing range of solutions.”
Fairview Microwave’s new quad-ridge, dual-polarized, broadband gain horns are in stock and available for same-day shipping.


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Teva Appoints Former Sandoz CEO Francis To Replace Schultz
Teva will soon have a new president and CEO with former Sandoz chief Richard Francis announced as Kåre Schultz’s replacement from the start of 2023.
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Haleon, Teva and UK consumer healthcare industry association, PAGB, are among 42 members of the Sustainable Medicines Partnership, which “aims to build science-based, scalable, sustainable solutions to help reduce the waste of medicines and the waste from medicines.”
Teva is expecting to have a new CEO by the end of next year, after current leader Kåre Schultz indicated that he was unlikely to renew his contract. The president and chief executive has overseen an eventful and transformative period for the Israeli firm.
Teva UK's first Rx-to-OTC switch is a UK Viagra Connect sildenafil competitor under the Liberize brand. Priced around 25% lower than the market leader, Teva's new brand must also compete with Perrigo's white label and Dr Reddy's Almus branded alternatives within the country's growing erectile dysfunction category.


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SACE (CDP Group) has guaranteed US Dollars 500 million equivalent credit lines granted by banks in favor of Reliance Industries Limited (“Reliance”), parent company of the Reliance Group, India's largest private sector group with over € 55 billion turnover, operating in a broad and diversified range of industries spanning across the energy and consumer businesses. Listed on the Indian stock exchanges, it features in the Fortune’s Global 500 list 2018 of World’s Largest Corporations at # 148 by revenues and # 99 by net profits.
The aim of the initiative — coordinated by HSBC and involving a pool of international banks acting as MLA including BNP Paribas, DZ Bank AG, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and MUFG Bank, — is to promote and increase the partnerships between Italian companies and facilitate participation by prospective Italian companies, especially SMEs, in the opportunities offered by Reliance Group’s ongoing and future capital expenditure plan.
This is another transaction closed by SACE under the “Push Strategy” program, a proactive approach introduced with the latest business plan, which endeavors to facilitate and sustain the competitiveness of Italian exports among selected foreign buyers. After the selection of foreign counterparts with a remarkable investments plan, this approach will provide subsidized loans for Italian suppliers.
In order to facilitate the involvement of Italian exporters in Reliance Group’s future procurement program, Reliance and SACE will organize meetings and business matching events between Reliance and Italian companies in relevant businesses, especially SMEs, interested in starting business dealings with the Reliance Group. With Reliance Group’s strong Retail business footprint in India and SACE’s established knowledge base of Italian suppliers, for the first time within SACE “Push Strategy” initiative, the deal will be addressed to a broad range of enterprises, including Italian leading-sectors like fashion and luxury.
The main objective of this initiative is to provide business opportunities to a broad range of relevant Italian enterprises, from machinery tools to retail industry.
“Our enterprises are ready to approach the Indian market even more firmly,” – declared Alessandro Decio, CEO of SACE –. The trade relationship between the two Countries is growing fast, with a +9.3% in 2017 and an increase of almost 16% in the first seven months of 2018: the outlook is going to remain positive even for the next years. We are very proud to have signed this agreement because Italian enterprises, especially SMEs, will have a competitive position among the suppliers of a big player like India. Our companies will have the chance to develop their business in one of the highest-priority destination for Made in Italy.”
According to the latest SACE Export Report, India is one of the 15 "essential" markets for Made in Italy products, and those countries contributed for 95 billion euro to the total exported goods in 2017. The Italian export to India, which currently amount to 3.6 billion, is expected to grow in the next three years with rate of 6.7% on annual average. This is due to the huge investments plan of Reliance as well as the “Make in India”, the national program aimed at making the Country a global manufacturing hub. This will open up interesting opportunities for Italian exports of investment goods, particularly machinery tools, a sector involved in various industries, from automotive to food processing, from energy to telecommunications.


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Apple iPhone 6 release seems not a mystery anymore, Although nothing is official so far, but we have new release date for upcoming Apple flagship device. Everyone is keen and guessing about release date of iPhone 5S successor . So far we have plenty of rumors suggesting Apple will be releasing its flagship in last month of Q3, or most probably in first month of Q4. But today what we have got is exact release date of device.
We can't claim this as final release date, as Apple yet to announce release date schedule, But In current scenario it's not as easy task especially when we are expecting more than one Apple devices, two iPADs and a mysterious Smart watch dubbed as iWatch. According to latest details Apple iWatch is currently waiting for FDA certification.
Recently details came from Deutsche Telekom’s spokesperson of support department whose duty was to inform carrier's customers about the release of Apple flagship iPhone 6, main reason behind this was to build up more hype regarding device. According to Deutsche Telekom’s info Apple will be releasing its flagship device on September 19th.
Today one again we have report from Chinese media which reconfirms Apple will be releasing its device on September 19th. Day on this date is Friday, and Apple is known for releasing new devices on Fridays, which backs up Sep 19 as release date for the aforementioned device.
One thing which is interesting in report is regarding price tag of device, report suggests Apple iPhone 6 32 GB variant will be released for 5,288 yuan which is nearly $850 . Currently 16GB iPhone 5S is been available for this price tag. In this case we can expect 64GB iPhone 6 variant for around 950$. There are fair chances of these price tag are for 4.7 inch display variant.
what are your thoughts regarding September 19th as release date for Apple flagship Smartphone. Feel Free to share your opinion below.


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Apr 27, 2023
Ebay forecasts upbeat revenue as sneakers, refurbished items drive growth
Apr 27, 2023
Ebay Inc on Wednesday forecast current-quarter revenue above Wall Street projections after beating March-quarter earnings estimates, as it benefits from its strategy of focusing on product categories including sneakers and watches.
A selective push from the e-commerce firm also on items like collectibles and refurbished products is helping it drive sales at a time when consumer spending has moderated due to high inflation.
"There remains a dynamic and uncertain macro economic environment across the globe with inflation and rising interest rates and pressured consumer confidence ... but our focus categories remain relatively resilient," Chief Executive Jamie Iannone said in an interview.
The upbeat results soothed investor sentiment, which was hit after eBay earlier this year said that demand weakness will persist in the first half of 2023. The company's shares rose 5% in after-hours trading.
Ebay is expanding listings under refurbished electronics, luxury bags and watches, and recently launched the collectibles category through its acquisition of trading cards marketplace TCGplayer last year.
Ebay is also pushing to expand international sales, which contributed about 20% to its total gross merchandise volume last year, through a new program wherein eBay handles customs formalities and intermediates returns.
San Jose, California-based Ebay expects now June-quarter revenue in the range $2.47 billion to $2.54 billion, higher than analysts' projection of $2.43 billion, according to Refinitiv.
Revenue in the most recent March quarter grew 1% to $2.51 billion, also beating analysts' estimate of $2.48 billion. Earnings per share of $1.11 also came in higher than estimate of $1.07.
Gross merchandise volume, a key industry gauge that denotes the total value of goods and services sold on the marketplace, however, fell 5% to $18.4 billion.
© Thomson Reuters 2023 All rights reserved.


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The world’s largest network of food events returns to Abu Dhabi
The world’s largest network of food events returns to Abu Dhabi
SIAL Middle East 2011 will host 500 exhibitors, 15 national pavilions and 500 of the region’s top food and equipment buyers and welcome over 12,000 trade visitors from 80 countries.
Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, SIAL Middle East will take place from 21 -23 November, 2011 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
SIAL Middle East is part of the SIAL Group, the world’s largest network of professional food events. Held annually, under strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, the event brings together professionals involved in buying and selling food products, services and equipment in addition to showcasing the latest innovations in the food industry.
After being highly commended in the Best Trade Exhibition category at the Middle East Event Awards 2011 and named as the largest and best attended business event launched in Abu Dhabi last year, SIAL Middle East has fast become the region’s dynamic event for the professional food industry.
“SIAL Middle East identifies key strengths that can be enhanced and areas that might be improved to further the economic and competitive potential of the regional food industry,” said Valérie Lobry, Managing Director of SIAL Group.
The region’s food consumption is expected to reach 51.5 million tonnes by 2015, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.6% over the period of 2011-15, while the food consumption per capita will increase at a CAGR of 2.1% over the period of 2011-15.
“Trade professionals and buyers will be able to source an array of food products and services, some of them never seen before in the region,” added Fadi Saad, Group Exhibition Director at Turret Media – organiser of the Middle East’s edition.
Did you know?
SIAL Middle East will host 500 key food buyers from the region under its SIAL Middle East Purchasers Club programme. This exclusive club has been created to match food, beverage and equipment buyers with relevant exhibitors to help facilitate business through a series of networking functions throughout the year, and pre-arranged one-to-one meetings at SIAL Middle East.
In 2010, SIAL Middle East hosted 329 key buyers from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan. Business deals worth US$ 250 million (AED 937 million) were inked, marking a significant leap for the food industry in the region.
Hussain Kenaan, General Manager of Tresor Trading and Contracting Co, Kuwait – who attended SIAL Middle East 2010 as a hosted buyer, said, “It is a great opportunity to network with like-minded people in a more focused atmosphere. Personal contacts are very important to me. The food suppliers actually have the time to sit, talk, discuss, negotiate and finalise deals with the buyers on the spot.”
Buyers include decision making purchasers from government bodies, importers, distributors, wholesalers, supermarket chains, restaurant chains, airlines, hotels, retailers and caterers.
A dedicated team has been created to deliver the unique matrix designed for the programme, receive requests and examine the eligibility of the applications. Mohammed Jalal Al Reyaysa, Director of Community Services and Communications, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority said, “The Hosted Buyers Programme will enable food manufacturing companies to develop export potential and reach out to the vibrant Middle East and African market.”
Grocery @ SIAL Middle East - a dedicated trading platform for grocery store operators and managers at the show.
At Grocery @ SIAL Middle East, manufacturers can meet purchasers in the grocery retail circuit and get their products enlisted in grocery stores.
This feature is a one-stop shop for grocers as they get ready to refurbish their premises and consider add-on services in line with the new standards and regulations set in place by Abu Dhabi Government.
SIAL Innovations Award - For 2011, SIAL Middle East will be bringing the prestigious SIAL Innovations Award to the Middle East for the first time and launching its very own Trends and Innovations Observatory that will feature major trends shaping the future of food products and the 50 most innovative products chosen by XTC World Innovations during various global SIAL editions this year.
“Today's consumers prefer products that offer something new and provide them with substantial benefits. This explains the radical shifts in the way global food players develop and market their products. The Middle East needs to be more aware of underlying food trends across the world given its diverse and expanding demographic profile. SIAL has been a remarkable source of innovative food concepts over the past 40 years that the Middle East can look to for inspiration," said Xavier Terlet, President, XTC world innovation
Eligible products include fusion food, exotic ingredients, allergen-free food, real-time point-of-sale acquisition of food information and ‘chef at home' cooking products.
The observatory will also host discussions on the flavours, textures and ingredients influencing food product innovation, and food innovation trends in Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Turkey named country of honour
Determined in its efforts to increase bilateral food trade with the UAE to US$250 million by 2015, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce has announced that 40 Turkish companies will exhibit at SIAL Middle East 2011. In recognition of Turkey’s contribution to developing the region’s food industry, SIAL Middle East has named Turkey as its Country of Honour for 2011.
Not to be missed...
Flavours from around the world
Food business at the show turns into an entirely superb experience as trade visitors get to unlock an exciting array of food products that cater to the global food industry.
The major appeal of this grand event is that majority exhibitors belong to the international food industry. Moreover, national pavilions from Turkey, Argentina, Korea, China, Taiwan, Iran, France, Italy, Poland, Vietnam, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Egypt and the UAE will feature international companies showcasing an array of food products and services, some of them never seen before in the region.
Creative gastronomy at La Cuisine by SIAL!
Organised by the Emirates Culinary Guild of Abu Dhabi, La Cuisine by SIAL will showcase the talent and artistry of hundreds of professional chefs as they compete under the watchful gaze of WACS approved judges across a variety of disciplines.
Region’s best chefs in action
The Africa & Middle East semi-finals of the WACS Global Chefs Challenge and Hans Bueschkens Young Chefs Challenge will take place at SIAL Middle East 2011. The WACS Global Chef Challenge is the largest individual culinary competition in the world. Winners will proceed to the finals in South Korea during May 2012.
Alen Thong, Coordinator of the Emirates Culinary Guild, said the dynamic hospitality industry in the capital made Abu Dhabi the perfect choice to host prestigious international events of the culinary industry. Uniting the regional chef community is a major coup for Abu Dhabi, a city placing great importance on the growth of its hospitality industry by investing US$4.34 billion into hotel projects over the next three years.
“SIAL Middle East and La Cuisine by SIAL provide an ideal environment for professional chefs to network, interact, and exchange information with their peers,” Thong added.
Get to know
A full programme of keynote speeches, panel debates, presentations and expert workshops will run in parallel with the exhibition. Topics include food retail in the region, food security and sustainability, consumer and ingredients trends, nutrition and healthy food, business and marketing and food quality and safety.
SIAL Middle East Rewind!
In November 2010, Abu Dhabi hosted the latest edition to SIAL’s international portfolio of professional events serving the food and beverage industry.
The city, regarded as the emerging business hub in the Middle East, brought together 7,244 trade professionals from 76 countries, 300 exhibitors from 40 countries and 9 national pavilions in addition to hosting 329 key buyers under its specifically designed SIAL Purchasers Club. More than 100 chefs participated in the one-of-its-kind La Cuisine du SIAL chef competition organised by Emirates Culinary Guild.
SIAL Middle East 2010 also hosted a high-level Ministerial Conference, where six ministers explored the development of an integrated food policy for the GCC countries.
“The timing for an event of this scale was important – the region looks forward to a sustainable economic recovery through a more diversified economic base. SIAL Middle East assesses the expansion possibilities of the food industry and develops trade potential across the region,” said Fadi Saad, Group Exhibition Director at Turret Media – organiser of the event.
Corry de Wit from Southern United States Trade Association said, "SIAL Middle East was very well organised and had a focus on trade visitors only, which was much appreciated by our participants as this increased the quality of contacts and possibility of sales of products."
Dr. Lucien Ghanem from Rafic Marroush said, "We had a very successful participation. The quality of visitors was great and we had plenty of time to discuss, interact, get feedback and sign contracts on the spot. We will definitely be back next year with more products to showcase and launch!"
Entry into SIAL Middle East is strictly for trade professionals only. Entry is free for pre-registered visitors. Registration can be done easily online at www.sialme.com


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The company says has sold its one millionth Prius in the U.S. There have been more than two million sold worldwide.
The Prius is powered by both a gasoline engine and an electric motor. It gets 51 miles per gallon in the city and 48 on the highway.
The Prius has been the top-selling hybrid in the U.S. since it went on sale 11 years ago.


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Comfort Inn Suites is hoping to enhance the landscape of Lower Scarborough, Tobago when it finally opens. The globally-branded hotel will be full-service and promises to be a great addition to the downtown area. The hotel was expected to open in May 2020 but work was delayed due to the covid19 pandemic.
In a press release on Tuesday, CUSA, LLC, an Atlanta-based hotel management company, said it is working with local ownership and Choice Hotels to open the hotel in Tobago.
"Coming Soon, Choice Hotels' newest and most buzzworthy property will make quite the splash," the company said.
The company assured a high standard of service and said the hotel will contribute to Tobago.
Towers Hospitality Group Ltd, an affiliate of Towers Consortium Consultancy Ltd, is the brainchild behind Comfort Inn & Suites arrival in Tobago and its chairman Allan Richards is predicting a tremendous impact on local tourism.
Towers Consortium Consultancy Ltd is heavily involved in the fields of construction and property development in Tobago.
Richards said, “Towers is proud to be able to bring a globally-branded hotel to Tobago which will attract a discerning clientèle and usher in a new era in the local tourism industry. We also recognised the need for an experienced management company in CUSA, LLC and will rely on their expertise in promoting destinations and attracting visitors to the properties they manage.”
The 74-room hotel will feature a spa, restaurant, public lounge areas and other amenities.
President of CUSA, LCC Deborah Cannon said the company was delighted to be part of the historic entrance into Tobago.
She said, “We’re pleased to be part of such a wonderful project with the ability to offer a quality product not available elsewhere in the Tobago market...We have successfully managed hotels and resorts for over thirty years, and it is a pleasure to be a part of Tobago’s wonderful community and rich history.”


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Morrisons has re-negotiated its contract with Ocado to lift the restrictions on store pick, cancel the profit share agreement and reduce the Research & Development fee.
The retailer said the new deal would enable Morrisons.com to grow profitably in the UK.
Ocado will develop a store pick solution for Morrisons.com. Prior restrictions will be lifted, enabling Morrisons to fulfil online orders via store pick anywhere in Britain, including all areas not currently covered by Morrisons.com.
Morrisons is expected to start the roll out of the store-pick solution in 2017. Ocado will license to Morrisons the store pick module from its Ocado Smart Platform, the software required to fulfil online orders from its stores.
The physical fulfilment process enabled by the store-pick solution will be operated by Morrisons, with Ocado providing and maintaining the software platform. Morrisons will pay for and operate the delivery fleet for OSP store-pick.
Once the store pick model becomes operational, Morrisons contractual obligation to share a proportion of its future online profits with Ocado will end. At this point the exclusivity restrictions on Ocado will also be reduced, although it will still be prohibited from serving certain grocery retailers including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl.
Morrisons will take capacity at Ocado’s new customer fulfilment centre in Erith. It said this arrangement has significantly lower upfront capital costs than the original operating agreement and includes an option to break after five years.
Once Morrisons.com is operational from Erith, Morrisons will pay Ocado a reduced annual R&D fee.
Morrisons said these changes meant that the break-even point for Morrisons.com would be slightly later than originally planned when the business operated solely from the Dordon CFC.
“In future, we expect the annual Morrisons.com EBIT loss to continue to reduce each year and to be a key component of the £50m-£100m incremental profit opportunity we announced at our preliminary results in March 2016. Our capital expenditure guidance of c.£450m for 2016/17 and a sustainable range of £400m-£450m per annum in future years is unchanged.”
Morrisons chief executive David Potts said: “The new investments in online growth are further examples of Morrisons building a broader business and will allow millions more customers all over Britain to enjoy Morrisons good quality fresh food and great value for money. As food maker and shopkeeper, we continue to ‘follow the customer’ and move towards achieving capital light, profitable growth online.”


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Flipkart warns of major 'customer disruption' if new e-commerce rules not delayed
Updated : January 30, 2019 07:03 AM IST
India's new foreign investment restrictions will, from February 1, bar e-commerce companies from selling products from firms in which they have an equity interest and also ban them from reaching deals with sellers to only sell on one platform.
In a letter to India's industries department earlier this month, Flipkart Chief Executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy said the rules required the company to assess "all elements" of its business operations, according to a person privy to the communication.
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Imagine having a global population of quality control experts feeding back information on the slightest imperfections in your products.
That is the service being performed by bloggers, forums and Youtubers that share stories of how close to the originals fake luxury watches are becoming, and how to spot what have become known as super fakes.
Anthony Fabiano, co-founder of Watch Certification Services of America (Watch CSA), a specialist in authenticating luxury watches for trade customers, says super fakes are a growing problem because the quality keeps on rising.
“The tier one counterfeiters of these super fakes are moving so fast with improvements. They monitor forums that share information about how consumers can spot fakes, and then immediately address those issues in the watches they make,” Mr Fabiano tells WatchPro.
The problem is getting worse because, while the total number of fake watches manufactured every year may be stable at around 40 million pieces, the quality from a handful of the most advanced Chinese factories is increasing.
Experts like WatchFinder, a pre-owned watch trader owned by Richemont, both describe the challenges of spotting super fakes, and provide important information to the counterfeiters in Youtube videos watched by millions.
The recent scandal swirling around Australian luxury watch trader Horology House, provided the same sort of clues to counterfeiters about how a Rolex Daytona, which was sold to a customer as the genuine item, could be identified as a fake.
Overall, Mr Fabiano thinks the the number of fake watches in the world is actually falling because authorities have cracked down on the mass production of the comically produced knock-offs that were once commonplace at tourist hot spots like Hong Kong, Bangkok and Dubai. However, the super fake problem is getting worse, and customers are drawn into increasingly sophisticated scams thanks to the global marketing power of social media.
The biggest pre-owned watch specialists, such as Watchbox, Watchfinder and Bob’s Watches, are unlikely to inadvertently buy or sell fakes because they have sophisticated systems and multiple layers of authentication, including working with the likes of Los Angeles-based Watch CSA. Chrono24 does a pretty good job of vetting, according to Mr Fabiano, but he still frequently finds fakes on social media, Amazon and eBay.
“There is a lag with people’s understanding of how good these fakes have become. Their view of fakes is two to three years’ out of date,” warns Mr Fabiano.
Watch CSA performs a battery of tests on watches that it authenticates including checking serial numbers against manufacturers’ databases and using artificial intelligence to scan details of watches using photographs taken under microscopes.
Watch CSA works only with trade customers such as pawn shops and professional watch traders, and has honed its business model to make it fast, accurate and reliable through the use of digital photography and artificial intelligence that means watches do not even need to be sent for physical inspection. “We issue certificates based on images and serial numbers,” Mr Fabiano explains.
Fake watches that appear identical to the real thing to the naked eye reveal their imperfections under the closest scrutiny. “It is about quality, not the specific elements that counterfeiters might have got wrong in the past. A ceramic bezel might look perfect to the naked eye, but not at the microscopic level, and the counterfeiters will never be perfect. I do not think they will ever challenge Rolex side-by-side when you check ten different areas of the watch under a microscope,” Mr Fabiano concludes.


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Liz Lange and her sister, Jane Wagman, have an addiction to shopping.
That’s why the well-known maternity clothing designer and graphic designer joined forces on a new venture — Shopafrolic.com, a personal shopping Web site.
“Our mother is addicted to shopping, so from a very young age, Jane and I were exposed to it,” Lange said. “We’ve obviously both picked it up. It’s like we have the same disease.”
Wagman and Lange grew up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, often accompanying their mother to her weekly appointments at her dressmaker or playing in the black rock garden in the Yves Saint Laurent store on Madison Avenue while their mother tried on the newest looks. Years later, the sisters, both of whom still live in Manhattan, find themselves racing to the stores daily on the hunt for some of the best bargains or must-haves. They regularly text each other and chat on the phone about their newest purchases, which got them thinking of their new venture — they could share their finds with the world on Shopafrolic.com.
“Our friends know about how much we love to shop, so they are always asking for our help or advice,” Wagman said. “So we thought it would be fun to do this site together.”
The site, which launched last week, offers daily finds from the sisters’ shopping trips — earlier this week they highlighted a camel J. Crew boot, which sells for $325. A link is provided to send the browser to the J. Crew Web site along with tips on how to wear the boots, given from Lange’s and Wagman’s perspectives. Wagman and Lange stressed they plan to choose items that are both inexpensive and expensive in fashion, accessories and beauty.
“We both love to shop and we like a lot of the same things, but Liz tends to be a bit more uptown and I’m more downtown in terms of style,” Wagman explained.
Lange stressed they will never highlight an item on the site that isn’t available for everyone to find, so most of the time it has to be sold online.
“It’s great to find something at Bergdorf, but if we can’t find it on their site, we won’t put it up,” Lange said. “There’s only one Bergdorf, so everyone doesn’t have access to it.”
Lange and Wagman hope the site will become interactive, which is why they introduced a “Buy/Don’t Buy” section, which encourages site browsers to send in photos of things they are interested in purchasing. Lange and Wagman then will weigh in on whether that person should or should not purchase the item, along with some tips on how to wear it or what to consider instead.
“It’s like we are doing the heavy lifting, which is something we love to do — it’s not work to us,” Lange said.
For now, the sisters are just doing the site for fun. While Lange sold her apparel company a few years ago, she still works as the face of Liz Lange Maternity as well as a design consultant. Wagman is the co-founder and co-creative director of Saje Design, a New York-based graphic design firm.
“When I started Liz Lange, it started as something really organic. I was making maternity clothes for my friends and it eventually turned into a business,” Lange explained. “As of now, we have no revenue plan for Shopafrolic, but who knows, maybe someday it will be a different story.”


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App Company Wants To Rename Runyon Canyon Park
It looks like there's more news coming out of Runyon Canyon Park this week: not only is there a new gate to deter hikers from a popular path, a media group wants to rename the park.
Enter Quint Media -- a publicly traded company from Miami -- and Tino Dietrich, the company's C.F.O. Dietrich put in an offer letter to the Los Angeles Department of Recreation last week to buy the naming rights for L.A.'s popular hiking spot, which would be renamed "Exley Canyon Park." The price tag? $80 million over the span of 30 years.
(Tino Dietrich stopped by Runyon last month before sending an offer letter. Photo courtesy of Exley.)
We'd never heard about the company until today, but it turns out Dietrich and Quint Media plan on launching a new celeb-tracking app called Exley on Monday. The app basically relies on crowdsourced information on celebrities to track where they might be at any given moment, so users can find them (creepy).The potential purchase is a preemptive move to not only put Exley on the map, so to speak, but to make it known in a place where people often do some celebrity-watching of their own. While it sounds like a PR move, Spokesman Zack Teperman insists putting in an empty offer would be bad for business. Runyon, he added, was Dietrich's choice.
"When people come to L.A. and Hollywood, where do they go and spot celebs? At Runyon, you see Ryan Gosling, you see Johnny Knoxville. It's the perfect tie in," Teperman said.
The makers of the app want to do the same thing in New York with Times Square, something Dietrich says would provide a "unique boost for their tourism departments and help the American economy immensely."
Teperman said discussions to rename the park are on-going. The Department of Recreation and Parks, as well as local city councilman Tom LaBonge, have yet to comment.


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Unified Inbox was just about ready to launch its cloud-based communications tool last year, when Edward Snowden rocked the industry with his revelations about widespread cyberspying activities.
User concerns about data privacy ensued, prompting the Singapore startup to rethink and rebuild the way it deployed its services over the cloud, according to Unified Inbox CEO and Founder Toby Ruckert.
The startup is currently developing three products including Unified Pro, which is a SaaS-based (software-as-a-service) messaging app that aims to allow business teams to communicate and delegate messages to their teammates. For instance, a sales inquiry sent over e-mail, marketing-related tweet, or Facebook comment can be discussed internally and assigned to different people or business units before a public reply is posted.
Its flagship mobile app, called Unified Inbox, will allow users to integrate and manage all their communication tools including Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and SMS via one central inbox.
All its products operate on a cloud-based infrastructure, noted Ruckert, which led to some complications following the Snowden-NSA (US National Security Agency) scandal.
"Our initial business strategy was to have everything powered by the same backend and same cloud service, comprising the infrastructure layers, data hosting and storage, application layer, and so on," he explained. "At least it was like that until the events from last year unfolded."
Before the NSA fallout, most companies peddling online tools adopted a monetization model based on offering free, advertising-based services, where consumers were encouraged to volunteer personal information in exchange for more free software and services. In fact, most online service providers would opt for this free — sometimes extended to a freemium — business model so they can build large user base and gain access to user data that potentially can be tapped for advertising revenue later.
Ruckert's plan was to offer the company's products on a freemium model, but while this business model and pricing plan remains unchanged, users' perspective of what data they're giving and in exchange for what services has changed.
The startup had no plans to sell any user data to advertisers, but it was planning to store all messages centrally in one database, powered by one backend, and delivered through one service.
From a system and infrastructure standpoint, as well as the ability to scale, this would have been better and easier to deploy, he said
However, when Snowden came out with his NSA revelations, even Unified Inbox's most loyal beta users began questioning how much data the company was holding, how it would affect their privacy, how much security had been implemented, and how much users would have to pay so the data it held would not be misused.
Despite the pain of dealing with multiple communication channels across different user logins and interfaces, very few were prepared to allow one company to manage all their communication tools.
Ruckert said: "We were ready to launch Unified Pro then, but with these developments post-NSA, we had to make a massive change to our backend infrastructure to convince customers to trust us with their data."
The startup spent the past year rebuilding its entire backend and some frontend components, and this work is still ongoing, he said, noting that it had to switch back to a closed beta. "It gave us an opportunity to seriously think about our product and technical infrastructure from the customers' perspective," he added.
The company is now deploying "certain techniques" to separate the application and service layer from the infrastructure and data storage. This is done to anonymize user data so it would be difficult to trace back a piece of data to a specific user.
Ruckert did not want to reveal more details because he said some of the retweaked backend components were pending patent approval.
Private cloud options a must
Customers also can now choose to deliver the service and data via a private cloud, he said, noting that the startup had inked partnership deals with telcos and internet service providers to provide this option.
The company also recently hired a security specialist to set up the necessary processes and protocols to ensure data safety and user rights within the cloud, he added.
Market players like Salesforce.com have demonstrated a cloud or SaaS model can work, Buckert said. But in a post-NSA era, if online app developers are serious about the enterprise space, they have to offer private cloud options, he said.
"With the emergence of tools such as Google Glass, my personal opinion is that one day, we might well reach a point where it's hard to tell what and where the human ends and the machine begins, and vice versa.
"Maybe then, the question of privacy and security and what the 'cloud' really means will be re-evaluated all over again," he said.


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During low temperatures we ask you to not forget about your beloved pet.
Humans and even pets can become victim to the cold weather.
Even if your pet happens to be an outdoor pet it would be a good idea to bring that animal inside during the sub-freezing temperatures.
Dogs and cats or any outdoor animal can succome to frostbite or hypothermia just like you. So, let your pet do its business and bring them back in.
Police are out looking for a couple of people the happened to drop off 6 animals at a local humane shelter, two of those animals died.


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Magasin restaurant owner Kim Nguyen and partner Holly Nguyen are planning to open Magasin French Vietnamese Bakery at 329 Julia Street in New Orleans, according to published reports by Nola.com.
The bakery and cafe will offer steamed buns, waffles flavored with pandan, meat pies filled with pâté and grab-and-go banh mi. Magasin Vietnamese French Bakery will have espresso, but also cafe sua dau.
"It will be our families' recipes for baking," Holly Nguyen said.
Magasin continues to grow. It began with Magasin Cafe, a stylish Vietnamese restaurant on Magazine Street. Owner Kim Nguyen then created the Sprout and Press juice bar. A second restaurant, Magasin Kitchen, opened last December in the South Market District development.
Magasin Cafe’s speciality is its unique twist on classic Vietnamese dishes: spring rolls are filled with Chinese sausage and fried eggs, bringing a Western all-day-breakfast vibe to the classic spring roll. Magasin’s bánh mì are made using French bread from La Boulangerie, a nearby bakery.


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LG has added a new phone model to its canU series. It's called canU S1000, and comes more than a year after the last canU handset was unveiled. Here's what it features:
- 2.8" (400 x 240) AMOLED WQVGA display;
- T-DMB support;
- Rotating display (up to 180 degrees);
- Mobile web and email support;
- Integrated dictionary;
- 14.1mm thick
It will be available exclusively from LG Telecom in violet or silver colors.


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The latest issue is in the shops now! Here's what to look forward to this week...
Why the Government has said no to a ban on historic vehicles being entered into scrappage schemes - and what the car manufacturers, the FBHVC and Westminster's group of classic-owning MPs make of it
Why Nick Larkin has been won over by a Fiat 500 that can get to 60mph in seven seconds and never uses any fuel (no, really!)
Britain's love affair with the Chevrolet Corvette - we drive the first three generations of this US institution and meet their owners to find out why buyers here love it
Enjoyed last week's Morris Minor special? Then don't miss our pics of the best cars from the car's 70th anniversary rally
Fuzz Townshend explores why - despite being vilified today - there's actually some very clever thinking behind diesel engines
How you can buy a Rolls-Royce for £5k (and avoid the heart-stopping repair bills)
Mike Brewer and Ant Anstead take you behind the scenes of their latest Wheeler Dealers restoration
Ever thought about putting a V8 in a Triumph TR7? We show you how
PLUS all the latest classic car classifieds, the biggest news stories, details of the best UK events and all the latest auction info - make sure you're up to date with the latest classic car deals!


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Produce merchandisers are likely to be wishing for a holiday present this year -- fresh cranberry supplies that last well past Thanksgiving to cover the Christmas rush as well.
In the first week of November, retailers contacted by SN were sounding cautiously optimistic that, this year, such a wish might just come true.
Jim Corby, director of produce merchandising for Abco Foods in Phoenix, told SN he thinks his supplies of the holiday fruit will be sufficient.
"At this point, the supplies for fresh cranberries seem to be good, better than they've been the last several years," Corby said. "I'm kind of holding my breath right now, to make sure it's going to stay that way. I'm hoping to have them through Christmas."
Still, Corby said he is leery about putting cranberries on ad. Thus, it's a challenge to make shoppers aware that cranberries are in stock.
"The key to selling fresh cranberries is to make sure people know you have them," he said. "So [you] keep them as visible as you can." Corby will try, when possible, to create large sections of the fresh cranberries on his wet racks. He will also strive to position the fresh cranberries near other Thanksgiving-related items, such as celery.
Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Wellesley Hills, Mass., has already put fresh cranberries on ad this season, said Tom Murray, produce director.
During the week of Oct. 15 to 21, packages of cranberries retailed at the chain at two for $3.
Murray said he is waiting to see if he can put them on ad again. However, he also said he has heard rumors lately of short cranberry supplies.
"I haven't had any problems,
but I hear they are short," he said. "This happens every year. But for now, I'm all set."
Murray said he generally advises shoppers to buy two bags in anticipation of shortfalls later in the season.
"Usually by Christmas, cranberries are gone, or very short. I try to get that across to the customers, to buy an extra one and put it in the freezer."
When merchandising fresh cranberries, Murray said, he takes advantage of the local marketing angle, since nearby Cape Cod is home to cranberry bogs.
"I always tie in cranberries with my fresh cider displays. It works out nice," he said.
The question of fresh holiday supplies of the little berries presents somewhat of a perennial irony for retail produce executives.
The holidays, particularly Thanksgiving, are supposed to represent a time of abundance and bountiful harvests. Fresh cranberries, meanwhile, often seem to turn up in short supply when they are most in demand, especially over the last several seasons.
On the supply side, the news coming from major cranberry-growing states sounds mixed this season. Cranberry growers in Wisconsin reported record-breaking harvests, while crops in Massachusetts were down, due to an unusually dry summer.
Ocean Spray Cranberries, the category's leading supplier, based in Lakeville, Mass., anticipates meeting Thanksgiving demand, according to Chris Phillips, a company spokesman.
"That's the peak time for fresh cranberries," said Phillips. However, the company is making no guarantees for Christmas supplies, he added.
Phillips said the cranberry crop in Massachusetts is down about 10%, due primarily to the summer weather.
Northland Cranberries, based in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., on the other hand, reported an overall increase of 14% in cranberry supplies. The record- setting harvest from Northland's Wisconsin bogs is expected to offset losses from Massachusetts, said the company in a statement.
Some retailers, meanwhile, said they detect that the weaker cranberry crop out of Massachusetts is putting pressure already on the rest of the market.
"Supplies are a little tighter," said Frank Gillespie, corporate produce director for Roundy's, a wholesaler based in Pewaukee, Wis.
"Suppliers in Massachusetts came up a little shorter, which put a little pressure on the market. But we booked out for the season at a good price, so we're in good shape," he said.
Roundy's Wisconsin-based location is helpful in obtaining fresh cranberry supplies, he added.
"We happen to have a supplier in our backyard," he said. "So, I'm in a very good position. The guy over in Ohio may not be so fortunate."
Roundy's does plan to put cranberries on ad this year, Gillespie said. "I don't feel we're going to be restricted." Gillespie said he normally retails packages of cranberries between $1 and $2. "But we'll advertise at less than that, when we do advertise," he said. "And we'll have ample supplies when we do that." He said sales of packaged cranberries slow down when they break the $1 level.
"But it's not like yesteryear, when we put them out at 69 cents. That was when we really moved some cranberries," he said.
Demand for the fresh cranberries has decreased in recent seasons, according to Gillespie, because many consumers today don't have time to make fresh cranberry jellies and sauces, or they don't know how. "So they'll grab the canned and prepared jellies and sauces," he said. Tom Osborne, produce buyer for Thrifty Foods, Burlington, Wash., said cranberry prices started creeping up ominously during the last week of October.
"Pricing took a 10% advance last week, and it's looking to be another 10% to 15% next week," he told SN in the first week of November. "That's when we'll book the product for Thanksgiving; of course, that will impact retail."
Despite that, Osborne added he felt confident supplies would be sufficient. He said one of his store groups plans to lead off its Thanksgiving ad with a cranberry promotion.
The ad, set to break Nov. 15, will feature fresh cranberries at a "very competitive price," he said.
"We're going to try and cross-merchandise cranberries in the meat department with the upper-end, fresh turkeys, as opposed to the commodity birds we lose money on," he said.
"In the produce department, the cranberries will also be the central items around our other holiday items, like yams and celery."
One Florida-based independent retailer said supplies have been a little erratic, but no worse than in years past.
"So far, there haven't been any real problems," said the retailer. "It's been a little hit and miss."
The retailer said his company has an excellent relationship with its distributor, which helps ensure good supplies. "We buy from only one distributor, and he makes sure we have the cranberries," he said.
Supplies looked adequate in early November for Randy Bohaty, produce director for B&R Stores, Lincoln, Neb.
He said he has already featured cranberries on ad, and intends to do so again. However, he is also anticipating another season of fresh cranberry roulette, and banking on stable supplies will be a gamble.
He said B&R tries to stock up on fresh cranberry packages while supplies are good.
"The problem with cranberries is, you never know. Supplies are good, and suddenly you can't get them anymore," he said. "Through Thanksgiving it looks good, but usually between Thanksgiving and Christmas we start running into a pinch."


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By Kelly Goetsch, Chief Product Officer, commercetools
In 2021 there was a great deal of hype around marketplaces, which have been adopted by the likes of Amazon and ASOS designed to sell a variety of commodity products. However, since the start of the pandemic, brands have also been waking up to the realisation that this doesn’t mean every brand can and should enter this space. While marketplaces can work well for tech giants and large retailers who are set up well to benefit, not all branded products lend themselves well to this channel. For instance, when a retailer lists products on a marketplace, it can lose a lot of control over the customer’s experience.
Meanwhile, with less need for physical retail space during the lockdowns, many customers are now more confident about buying online. Approximately 75% of UK shoppers said they had been shopping more online according to Appinio. This gives B2B and B2C brands the opportunity to cut out retail middlemen and adopt a direct-to-consumer (D2C strategy) to sell directly to their audience with self-service options for customers. For many brands, it makes more sense to sell products directly to their audience, so that they can own the message, curate the experience, and cut out other facilitators and their costs.
In 2022, the unique opportunity for manufacturers to engage with customers directly will become even more compelling. It will become clear how with stronger connections to customers, more efficient ordering processes and commanding brand presence, D2C manufacturers enjoy access to untapped revenues and a confident market position post-pandemic. However, to do it well, having the right technology in place is crucial.
Invest in the right technology
To make a D2C strategy worth its while, choosing a robust and reliable commerce system is key. A headless solution, that stores, manages, and delivers commerce capability without the need for tightly coupled front and back-ends provides businesses with the ability to meet customer demands and adapt over time quickly and easily.
For example, consumer electronics group Glen Dimplex used a modern, microservice-based, headless commerce architecture. This allowed it to take a step-by-step approach to e-commerce development, releasing non-transactional product catalogues first and then adding transactional capabilities later. It could then test and rollout improvements in controlled stages to ensure it could maximise sales.
This also allowed Glen Dimplex to take ‘a white-label approach’ to e-commerce development and deployment, meaning it can build once and redeploy over and over again, adding 30 more sites to its pipeline to handle large amounts of traffic. This especially helped during seasonal peaks like Black Friday which require real-time data flow between front- and back-ends to prevent websites crashing. Glen Dimplex was also able to enhance the customer journey by trialling improvements such as adding new features to test their impact on user experience and sales, establish a stronger brand presence and improve consistency of brand messaging globally and across all its core markets.
Adapt to change
Manufacturers typically have little control over the sales model. Now, by embracing a direct-to-consumer approach with a modern technology platform, manufacturers are opening up the conversation with their end-customers directly. This gives them the chance to develop relationships with each customer and personalise interactions which can improve loyalty.
Icelandic clothing and accessories brand 66°North harnessed a flexible platform to enable it to sell some of its product directly to consumers and be able to scale with growing customer demand. With headless commerce, 66°North now has the technology to power its business ambitions rather than limiting them, as is often the case with large monolithic solutions.
Scale with demand
It’s not just B2C brands that are going D2C. B2B customers are moving online fast and their expectations for shopping are growing.
Since B2B businesses typically have larger and more complex data models than B2C, scalability is even more important. Intelligent machine learning-driven features allow data to be simplified for easier handling. With leaner, more efficient data sets, developers can achieve faster-loading experiences, higher rates of uptime for customers, and ability to capture more sales and revenue potential.
With the right technology strategies in place, B2B brands can transform traditional sales routes. When the business leaders at JSW Group, a multinational conglomerate, first envisioned the JSW One B2B online commerce platform, they opted to utilise modular MACH architecture. The easy scalability of the underlying infrastructure was invaluable in creating such a big marketplace.
The way forward
It is certain that evolving into a D2C approach offers a myriad of opportunities, but having modern technology in place is key before the benefits of a robust and reliable commerce system, enhancement of customer journeys and a scalable model, can be truly realised. While there will still be some uncertainty over consumer spending in 2022, and shopper habits will continue to evolve, it will be exciting to see how the industry matures and technology advances within D2C commerce.”


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There goes your excuse!
This past Sunday, at the 50th Annual New York City Marathon — which was canceled for the first time last year due to COVID-19 — not only were there 30,000 runners…but there was one very tiny one with webbed feet.
That’s right, Wrinkle the duck — whose Instagram says she’s a traveling duck (named after A Wrinkle In Time) — joined hoards of athletes in running through NYC to beakt her best time.
Just watch the adorable video here and try to not let this ducky put a smile on your face!
Okay, so she probably didn’t run the entire 26.2 miles, just a small portion for the video, but still was faster than we could be!
The original video has garnered almost 4 million views on TikTok thus far, and has completely delighted tons of social media users.
YOU GUYYYYYSSSSSSSS I love her!!!!! pic.twitter.com/V6LGh1dc4W
— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) November 8, 2021
Oh, and she had custom sneakers for her little webbed feet. In fact, none other than shoe brand Adidas commented “Sending this to our design team to petition for a new duck shoe collection,” and the account actually commented that they make the shoes themselves & since they’re getting so many orders, they’re looking for a sponsor!
The video actually brought all the big brands and celebrities out commenting. Here are some of the highlights:
Unfortunately Wrinkle didn’t come in first place — that honor went to Albert Korir of Kenya for the men’s race and Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya for the women’s, who also just won gold in the women’s marathon at the Tokyo Olympics.
Some other stand-outs include: Madison de Rozario of Australia, who won the women’s wheelchair race for the first time, and Marcel Hug of Switzerland, who won the men’s wheelchair race for the fourth time.


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The airline yesterday published a list of the flights it would have to cancel over the next six weeks after having "messed up the allocation of annual leave to pilots", according to a statement on its website. One in fifty of its flights will be cancelled - up to 50 per day, affecting 400,000 passengers in total.
The airline had come under fire yesterday for the lack of openness about the situation as the extent of the cancellations became clear, and customer anger grew - although its boss Michael O'Leary was quick to admit that the situation was "clearly a mess".
"It is clearly a mess" admits Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary as 50 flights a day will have to be cancelled over the next six weeks pic.twitter.com/HpwwDKpEee— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 18, 2017
Paul Charles, founder of travel specialist The PC Agency former comms chief at Virgin Atlantic, said: "The way they handled events yesterday smacked of the Ryanair of old - for a long time, Ryanair had a reputation for bad customer service but in the last few years they have had a much better positioning, and I think had laid to rest the Ryanair of old."
"The leadership team have fallen asleep at the wheel - how they got themselves into this mess is concerning, and that's why there is long-term damage to the brand," he said, noting that future bookings could be significantly hit if those affected by cancellations, or those currently weighing up which airline to use, were put off Ryanair by this crisis. "It's going to become a major financial crisis," he predicted.
Better than BA
"They didn't do what the crisis comms handbook says, which is get all your bad news out in one go," he said, but went on to say that Ryanair's comms had done better than British Airways had in a crisis it suffered in May, saying: "Ryanair tried to deal with the crisis very quickly, whereas BA left it longer."
Ryanair may have been quicker than BA, but Alan Twigg, group head of consumer at agency Way To Blue, told PRWeek he still felt it took "too long for the main man to appear".
Of O'Leary's comments when he did face the press, Twigg said: "I thought he did a fair job in making it all sound pretty mundane. However, that is a dangerous strategy - you can look like you're waving your hand to say 'it's not a big deal, don't worry'.
"They keep repeating that it only affects two per cent of their schedule, but that's still an awful lot of head and heartaches."
Andy Sawford, managing partner of Connect Communications, said O'Leary was a "gifted spokesman" but that this crisis "may be his biggest test".
Sawford said that the apology would be helpful in arresting its share price tumble, but that the company now needed action, alongside words. He said: "Money really talks in this situation. There will need to be generous compensation for pilots to cancel leave, and passengers who are affected. They need to activate their crisis comms plan, set up a call centre to handle complaints and queries, and do a lot of work to smooth things over with investors, providing reassurance that this will never happen again."
Meanwhile, Twigg went on to say that the crisis provided lessons for budget services more broadly. "I worry that this is also symptomatic of the broader budget category, where customer expectations are virtually non-existent. The consumer has to start pushing in the budget category for a simple humanity and courtesy – otherwise minimum service levels will just keep falling and falling and the contempt with which some of these brands treat their customers will continue," he said.
Other comms pros had their say on Twitter.
Not surprised if Ryanair staff are leaving. Flew with them 2 weeks ago. Can tell how demoralised some of them are.— David Roach (@davidroachcouk) September 19, 2017
Pressure was also being applied on Ryanair by consumer group Which?